THE VERITUS REPORT
No doubt, this pandemic has affected every non-profit. But, one sector of the non-profit community that is really scrambling is higher education. In fact, in a recent survey, 83% of university major gift officers are not confident they will make their revenue goals for 2020/21.
Why?
In our opinion it’s because they don’t have solid relationships with their donors and alumni. In fact, at Veritus we’ve worked with several universities both large and small, and in every case, this is the most common problem with institutions of higher learning… they don’t focus on building long-term relationships.
Here is what typically happens. MGOs are handed a caseload of alumni who have high wealth capacity ratings. Many of them have never given before. Then, based on those capacity ratings, someone (typically the research department or the head of development) gives them an overall revenue goal.
From there, the poor MGO is evaluated on a set of metrics (such as number of calls or number of visits) that they have to meet each month. Based on those formulas the university expects them to reach their revenue goals.
This is actually not major gift fundraising. It’s high net-worth transactional asking.
There is no value place on developing relationships, building revenue goals by donor based on actual giving, and creating a strategic plan around that donor.
It’s more like, “Did you do 25 face-to-faces this month?” No one is asking if they were meaningful connections. And, you wonder why MGOs are frustrated and quickly burn out.
When we begin to work with universities and colleges and change the major gift objective to building relationships, we see massive growth. Donors who gave $25,000 consistently each year are now giving multi-year six figure gifts. Donors who used to give 6-figure gifts are now giving 7- and 8-figure gifts.
Why? Because the MGO has actually spent time figuring out the donor’s passion and interests and matching them up with the institution’s priorities.
But, in order for these institutions to adopt this type of fundraising it takes patience and resolve. The Veritus Way for major gift fundraising is not a short-term fix. It is a long game, putting the donor front and center. Those institutions that have adopted the Veritus Way are thriving. Those that just chased the money are now hurting in the midst of this pandemic.
Going after a transactional gift may get you immediate cash but developing relationships with your donors and alumni always leads to long-term transformational gifts.
Jeff
In Seth Godin’s classic book, “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable,” he mentions two key points:
- “Tastes like chicken” isn’t a compliment.
- “Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting. It’s a Purple Cow. Boring stuff is invisible. It’s a brown cow.
Frontline fundraisers in higher education would be more successful if they had a portfolio of donor offers that not only matched what the donor wanted to support but also met the budget needs of the organization.
When the coronavirus crisis hit, Brittini Lasseigne knew it would have a big impact on her entire organization.